Until First Light (DM: TwoHeadsBarking. Judge: renau1g)

The man smiles and beacons you into the room. "There, away from prying eyes and curious ears. Much better. Now for introductions. If we are going to be working together, we should know a little about each other. My name is Iaros Karvaron, a scholar of some minor renown."

History or Streetwise 15

Iaros is being a little humble. He is actually very well known, in the proper circles. In this case, the proper circles are those related to archeology.

History, Streetwise, or Religion 20

Iaros has occasionally come under fire from the temples for his studies of deities outside the Twelve.

General Info

Ideally, everyone would post at least once per day, especially during combats and skill challenges. We don't live in an ideal world, though, and sometimes delays are inevitable. Please let me know if you are going to be away for an extended period of time (like, 2+ days) so I can NPC you if necessary.

I'll be running the group initiative system you can find all over the place. Please use Invisible Castle for your rolls, and I'll do the same. Also, I'd like it if during combat, after you describe what your character is doing, everyone would put their actions and stats in little spoiler boxes, like so:

This will help me keep track of everything during combat. Also, please have a link to your character sheet either in your signature or in the stat block (or both).

Everyone should choose a unique, non-white color for their character's voice. Right now I've reserved whatever this color is for Iaros, so you can't use that one. Sorry *shrugs*.

There will be rewards, eventually. If you don't have a wishlist in your character sheet, you should be thinking of one. If you don't have one by the time I decide to start distributing treasure, I'll do my best to give you something awesome. I find picking out items to be fun, so don't feel like you need a wishlist for my sake.

Raijin walks in with Zhen and waits for him to introduce himself. You can call me Raijin and I am also of the Kingdom. I have knowledge of arts arcane and of the stars in the heavens. He turns to Iaros in particular. I have heard your name, yes. You are renowned as a scholar true, but sometimes your studies bring notoriety to your name.

The tall, crystalline creature joins the others in the back room. Her body seems slightly pink. She continues to regard her surroundings with curious interest. Hearing the others, a sound like a hundred tiny voices speaking in chorus pleasantly chimes "Empathy." Seeing from the looks of others that this doesn't seem to suffice, she adds, "Telekinesis. Mind twisting."

D'keth enters the back room, hearing his sister's words. "Indeed, K'atzn'ii and I were forced to leave our homelands and have only recently become reunited despite all odds to the contrary. I look forward to fighting by her side." he says

The door of The Hanged Man burst open in the manner it sometimes did when a particularly self-satisfied brute or other delusional, musclebound, would-be hero made their entrance. However no great shadow blotted out the light of the day, which now seemed to stream unabated into the tavern, instead the threshold contained only the slight silhouette of a young woman. Stepping out of the doorway her features began to resolve themselves from shadow, she was a slight human teenager with wide blue eyes, pale skin, and long straight black hair. She was dressed in a skirt and blouse, topped with a leather breastplate that obviously seen use, over all of this was a long dark cloak. Her clothes and cloak seemed road-worn and slightly dusty. Placing her hands on her hips she grandly announced to the tavern, I'm Lily Lenore, fearless adventurer! She chuckled to herself, pleased with the ring of it.

Walking farther into the tavern Lily looked around curiously, her wide eyes adjusting to the light of the interior. It was not as busy as she had anticipated, with a mild look of disappointment she wondered if perhaps she should have come later. Her musings were suddenly interrupted by a look of alarm that spread over her face as though she had just remembered something of vital importance. Suddenly embarrassed she looked around and gave an uneasy laugh, excuse me. With that she suddenly bolted from the room heading into the back of the tavern.

After a short time Lily reemerged in the back halls of The Hanged Man, breathing a long sigh of relief. She looked around with mild interest at the surroundings, she had not been back here before. Idly exploring she poked her head in various doors as she went down the hallway. There was a surprising number of rooms hidden away back there, it seemed to her. Considering this she opened another door only to find a strange collection of individuals. That strangeness seemed to pale next to the pinkish crystalline...thing which seemed to dominate the room with its unusual presence.

Ah! Sorry, sorry. Don't let me interrupt your adventure.

Quickly closing the door she started to turn away, when suddenly the gears in her head began to turn and a sly smile crossed her face, there didn't seem to be any work in the front after all... Moments later the door opened again and the young girl's head poked back into the room.

Say, you wouldn't happen to need a healer would you? Oh, I know I may look young, but I'm quite competent. She slipped into the room as she spoke. A witch, apprentice to that old hag in Bacarte, Abigail. Hmm, she thought, maybe Abigail wasn't so well known here, they looked like foreigners anyway... I just returned from helping rid the world of the infamous crime boss Mr. X, with the paladin Raiyek, and the dwarf Kruk. Lily looked around at the group of faces (and whatnot) staring back at her, she didn't feel she was convincing them. Also, I come with this. From her shadow behind her errupted an inky black pillar of eyes, gnashing teeth, and amorphous limbs, it glared hungrily around the room for an instant and then, with a wave of Lily's hand, it dissolved, liquefying back into her shadow. So...what do you say?

Spirit companions are complex critters, so this is to remind everyone, myself included, of the important points. The first three items are probably the most relevant to the other players.

Any of Lily's allies who start their turn adjacent to her spirit companion can shift 1 square as a free action, as the first action during their turn.

Any of Lily's allies adjacent to her spirit companion gain a +3 bonus to their damage rolls against bloodied enemies.

Lily's spirit companion occupies 1 square, Lily's allies may move through its space, but her enemies may not.

Lily's spirit companion may be targeted by melee and ranged attacks. If a single attack deals 11 or more damage to Lily's spirit companion it disappears and Lily takes 6 damage. Otherwise her spirit companion is unaffected by the attack.

Lily's spirit companion uses Lily's defenses.

Any enemy that leaves a square adjacent to Lily's spirit companion without shifting is subject its Spirit Fang attack. (This is an opportunity action and so may used once per turn, rather than once per round. Since there is no reason not to take this attack DM please feel free to roll them as necessary.)

Lily's spirit companion is unaffected by terrain and environmental phenomena.

Oni

"Each man, one way.
Each horse, one stance.
Each church, one buddha.
Each master to his own technique."